Daughter who found dad’s killer comes face-to-face with the man who shattered her family: ‘It’s unbelievable to me’

Justo Santos pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and weapons possession. He was ordered to be held without bail. (Jefferson Siegel)

A day after her 26th fatherless Father's Day, Joselyn Martinez came face-to-face with the man accused of robbing her of her dad.

The Bronx actress sat in the front row of Manhattan Supreme Court Monday, filled with loathing for the accused killer and with satisfaction that she never gave up on her pursuit to bring him to justice.

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As Justo Santos, shackled and unshaven, was brought into the courtroom, Joselyn, 36, flashed a relieved grin as she sat next to her mother and a dozen relatives and friends.

It was the first time she had ever laid eyes on the monster who has haunted her family since he gunned down her father, Jose Martinez, in cold blood in front of her mom, Idalia Martinez, on Nov. 22, 1986.

"Were here in New York City for the first time after 26-and-a-half years in a court. It's unbelievable to me," Joselyn said after Santos' short court appearance.

"The anniversary of my father's death has always been difficult," she said. "November 22nd and Father's Day, which was yesterday. It's 26 years without my dad. And this year people said it could be different, and it was. I did something for him, so you know it's possible."

Joselyn Martinez leaves court after the arraignment. “I wasn’t sure what I was feeling,” she said. “It was more like a satisfaction, for lack of a better word.” (Bryan Pace/for New York Daily News)

Joselyn, who was named after her father, revived her dad's cold-case murder investigation when her eight years of Internet sleuthing tracked Santos down.

Using the information Joselyn gave them, including Santos' address and phone number, NYPD Cold Case Apprehension Squad detectives arrested him on June 6 in Miami.

Joselyn said seeing Santos in handcuffs looking defeated made his arrest real for her.

"I was just ready to see him in custody," she said. "I wasn't sure what I was feeling. It was more like a satisfaction, for lack of a better word. Like he's there. This happened."

Prosecutors said Santos immediately confessed to shooting the hardworking Jose Martinez, who threw him and two pals out of his Dyckman St. restaurant in Inwood when they began harassing his wife.

Santos was arrested in the Dominican Republic two years after the killing on charges of murder and criminal impersonation, but, for reasons that remain unclear, he was released and never tried. (Jefferson Siegel)

Following the killing, Santos fled to the Dominican Republic, where the closest cops came to catching him was recording his confession in a 1987 phone conversation.

NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted last week that investigators botched the murder investigation. He revealed that Santos had been arrested in the Dominican Republic two years after the Martinez murder.

Santos was arrested on charges of murder and criminal impersonation. But for reasons that remain unclear, he was never tried for murder and was released.

Joselyn, who was 9 years old at the time of her father's death, said she only remembered waking up the next morning, being told her father was dead and then seeing the then 16-year-old Santos' wanted poster plastered all over Dyckman St.

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“The truth is, I was just focused on this and my father,” Martinez said. “ I was just focused on justice.” (Bryan Pace/for New York Daily News)

As she grew up, her mother often told her to never forget the name or face of the man who destroyed her family.

Santos pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and weapons possession. Justice Rena Uviller ordered him to be held without bail.

"I was nervous beforehand," Joselyn said following the hearing. "It was something I was waiting for a very long time.

"The truth is, I was just focused on this and my father. I was just focused on justice."